Context and aim
Cancer Council Western Australia is funded by Healthway to deliver a free parent nutrition education program called Packed with Goodness (PwG) in Western Australia (WA). Parents are increasingly time poor, with many competing priorities, which has seen engagement in face-to-face workshops significantly reduced. At the same time, seeking nutrition and health related information from social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok or ill-informed podcast presenters, is on the rise. This drives concern amongst health professionals around the nature of health information being shared on these platforms without adequate regulation.
Since 2017, the number of Australians listening to podcasts weekly has increased from ten per cent to 33 per cent, with over 50 per cent of 25 to 39 year olds listening to podcasts monthly. The aim of launching a podcast was to use a trusted voice to communicate credible and evidence-based children’s nutrition information to counter the misinformation.
Method
The Crunch&Sip® team completed podcast training, parent consultation and created a season plan. Episode content was researched, recorded, and edited to refine the deliverable product. Two media agencies were engaged to create a promotional campaign, which was showcased at an official podcast launch. The podcast was further promoted to schools, childcare centres and through stakeholder networks.
Results
Crunch&Sip® launched the podcast Crunch Bites in May 2024. A total of 10 episodes were published for season one. In the first month, Crunch Bites had 586 downloads. Further outcomes such as campaign reach, number of listeners and downloads as well as further learnings will be discussed at the conference.